Two techniques typically used to clean floor carpet, rugs, furniture and the like are wet cleaning, such as hot water extraction or so-called "steam cleaning" and shampooing, and dry cleaning. For dry cleaning carpets, a cleaning fluid is sprayed onto the carpet and a pad is rotated over the carpet to work the cleaning solution into the carpet and thereby remove the dirt, and to absorb the dirty cleaning solution from the carpet. One type of machine which can be used for dry cleaning carpets is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,622, to B. L. Cutler, issued Oct. 20, 1981, entitled FRAMEWORK HOLDER FOR ATTACHING CONTAINER TO FLOOR MACHINE. The machine shown in this patent includes a housing having a flat, circular brush across its open bottom and containing a motor for rotating the brush. A container is mounted on the housing and contains the cleaning solution which is adapted to be sprayed onto the carpet. An elongated handle is attached to the housing to permit the brush to be moved across the carpet. A cleaning pad is mounted under the brush is adapted to be rotated and moved along the carpet with the brush.
Initially, the cleaning pads used with such a dry cleaning machine were more or less of a mop-like or shag-like consistency in that the surface which bears on the carpet is soft and yielding. This type of pad has a shaggy surface and not a firm surface. It has the disadvantage that it lacks the aggressive stripping and scrubbing fibers which are necessary to perform an effective cleaning action.
Pads were then made with firm surfaces to bear on the surface to be cleaned and were made by tightly looping strands of string synthetic material through a base sheet. Such a pad is more like a hooked rug in that its working surface is quite firm. These pads have the advantage of actively cleaning the carpet and picking up in the pad a considerable amount of the dirt which is lodged deep in the carpet or rug.
To further improve the scrubbing action of the pad, strips of fibers which are much like the consistency of conventional hairbrushes were incorporated into the pad. Such a pad is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,438, to B. L. Cutler, issued Dec. 6, 1983, entitled ROTARY CARPET CLEANING PAD. The pad of this patent has strips of fiber bristles arranged radially along a circular base sheet and in an annular strip around the periphery of the base sheet. The remaining portion of the base sheet is filled with firm loops of strand material to form a bed of hooked rug solidity. The strips of bristles provide good scrubbing action and the remainder of the pad provides for good absorption of the dirty cleaning liquid to remove the dirt from the carpet. However, it is always desirable to have a cleaning pad which provides for better and faster cleaning action of the carpet. Although it is desirable to have a pad with good and deep scrubbing action, care must be taken that such scrubbing action does not damage the carpet.